Surreptitious
by RyeusAtHeart
Summary: Contributing to Luminous Revival, an association protecting society from danger, has always been Mikan's top priority. But when her duties unexpectedly lead her to pave a path towards Alice Academy to investigate unusual activity, she'll certainly have to reconsider this a lot. When getting in too deep seems to be inevitable, she'll have to ask herself if it was worth it in the end
1. Chapter 1

**~Surreptitious~**

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 **Chapter One**

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 _Disclaimer:_ This will only be mentioned once throughout the course of this story, because I am **never** going to own Gakuen Alice, and this fact is not going to change :) Also it should be important to note that this story will reference many aspects of the manga/anime. I also apologise in advance if I eventually make any of the characters 'out of character'.

Word Count: 3599

* * *

A bilious look etched the features of the young brunette as the view of artificial greenery, minuscule-sized mechanical bugs and a well constructed artificial waterfall came to her view. Mikan exhaled in, gave out an exasperated sigh before she secured her slender fingers on the handle of the corpulent suitcase she was instructed to bring.

Her honey-brown orbs scanned all nearby areas cautiously, allowing herself to confirm her thoughts. The lack of any bodily presence, with the exception of herself, assured Mikan that a potential ambush was extremely unlikely.

Acknowledging this, Mikan proceeded forward without hesitation.

When she arrived at her destination, she halted.

Mikan had to admit, Luminous Revival was a pretty interesting organization, to say the least. She was recently informed by her colleagues that her commander was rather persistent in wanting to remodel the exterior of their base at headquarters, enough that it had led to a permanent change in their base location after a few quarrels.

Apparently, the commander had argued that the change of scenery would have had convenience written all over it. He had explained that the change to a remote setting would've made the organization more low-profile. This ultimately would've allowed them a degree of security since the new base would've been tremendously difficult to perpetrate. And most important of all, their actions wouldn't have been traced back with ease.

Besides, who in their right minds would end up tracking their location back to a prospering wildflower garden anyway?

The whole idea of reconstructing their base certainly deserved praise; however, it clearly wasn't a plan without its flaws. One of the main criticisms of the reconstruction resided in the fact that there was now an unnecessarily long procedure for signing into Luminous Revival.

It wasn't Mikan's cup of tea nor was it a delightful process for anyone checking in.

Before starting the procedure for signing in, Mikan once again examined her surroundings before plopping herself to the ground. She swiftly took the position of a squat and refrained from shamelessly trampling dozens of flowers in the process. A satisfied smile plastered her mouth when she had successfully located the most significant flower out of the bunch; the one that would let her into Luminous Revival.

The Euphorbia. It was indeed a bland flower since it didn't possess any striking traits that would catch the eyes of an onlooker unlike the other flowers situated there. Its long green stalk covered in tiny specs of white flowers served one purpose only and that was to enhance the beauty of the other plants that radiated in colour. Roses, sunflowers, and daffodils were a good example of this.

If anyone was to accidentally stumble into the area and by chance wanted to pluck a selection of flowers for a bouquet, there was a high chance that the individual would only take the flowers that allured the eyes. Obviously, the Eurphorbia would have been discarded due to its lack of beauty and of course, that was exactly what headquarters wanted.

A flower that looked ever so tedious wouldn't bring any sort of attention towards Luminous Revival.

A brilliant tactic, indeed.

Recalling the pattern that would let her get into headquarters, Mikan lightly tapped onto the highest little flower in the Euphorbia and swiftly dragged her invisible line to other sections of the plant until she successfully formed the main logo of Luminous Revival, a star.

Suddenly, the once non-existent line became visible to the eye, and Mikan was enveloped in a bright beam of light that shot out of the logo.

Once the blinding light had simmered down, Mikan was automatically transported to another destination. Unconsciously, Mikan had to give a roll of her eyes. Their check-in system sure was lengthy but she was glad that only two easy steps awaited her.

When the transportation system had set her down, Mikan found herself in an all too familiar place. The opaque windows, the white tiles with little silver glittery specs adorned onto them and the bizarre decoration pieces led Mikan to the conclusion that she was in the enclosed entrance of Luminous Revival, the headquarters of Japan.

Without wasting further moments, Mikan hastily strode forwards and only stopped inches away from the security door. She quickly came to the realisation that she didn't have her identification card hanging leisurely around her neck as she usually did, so unzipped the first compartment of her suitcase in hopes of finding it in the midst of every other miniature travel necessity.

When her hand felt the familiar fabric of the lanyard, Mikan carelessly pulled it out only to realise that it was tangled into a small hair comb. Once she unraveled her ID card, Mikan cringed upon encountering her ever-so-lovely picture.

On the corner of the white plastic card, there was her picture. It was as clear as day that Mikan was in the process of sneezing as her eyes were closed, her eyebrows were furrowed together, and her lips were partially open exposing a few pearly-white teeth. It had to be the most horrific picture she had taken but unfortunately for her, it was the only one she was allowed to use.

Regardless of that, Mikan did herself a good deed and flipped her card over when she was in the presence of her superiors.

Not relishing in further thoughts regarding her picture, Mikan pressed her card delicately against the security card reader and withdrew it once the vermillion light changed itself to an emerald colour.

With that confirmation, Mikan inputted her password besides the scanner with a little grin.

'1L0V3H0WA110N'

The thought of devouring the luxurious candy invaded her mind all of a sudden. It had been so long, precisely one month and three days since Mikan had been deprived of her favourite sweet. At that moment, Mikan had decided that after she had tended to business, she would pop down to one of the stores in headquarters for a quick bite. She certainly deserved it after all she had been through for her last mission.

The sound of the automated voice greeting her pulled Mikan out of her thoughts. Her casual expression instantly morphed to one of intimidation once the confined doors slowly opened revealing the setting.

Instantly, the scenery sprung to life as her honey-brown eyes witnessed the daily activities of her peers. The receptionist busied herself with typing away on her computer whilst simultaneously receiving the forthcoming call of the day; other members that came to the building headed out as consumers and stacked up on medicine, new equipment, and other items from specialised shops. There were a stray few that queued up at the leaderboards so they could pinpoint their location.

"Typical," Mikan muttered out, slightly amused.

She had completely forgotten just how effulgent Luminous Revival could be. Perhaps it was all due to her previous mission; specifically, her irksome client that had drained her soul dry of optimism.

Yami Ranashi, a client that had deserved all the ridicule in the world. Mikan's mission was to obtain Yami's secret dessert recipe back from a rival bakery who had forcefully invaded her home seeking the infamous dessert recipe. It was all going well. Negotiations were made and everything was going according to Mikan's plan, that was until Yani went out on the pretence of shopping and somehow ended up confronting the enemy, that too in their own territory.

Of course, that had led to Yami's capture.

Because of Yami's incredibly stupid act, Mikan's supposed one-week mission extended itself to a month. To top it off, when Mikan did complete the mission, victoriously bringing Yami and her recipe back to safety, all she received was a long string of curse words instead of praise, her salary was deducted because of her 'unsatisfactory' performance, and, Yami had looked just about anything but grateful.

But at least that havoc was over with.

All Mikan had to do today was report to a meeting.

"Hopefully that's all," Mikan muttered.

* * *

Luminous Revival just wasn't going to allow her the well-deserved break she desperately anticipated, were they? It had been barely two hours since her arrival in Japan, and already Mikan Sakura found that her meeting was cancelled but on the bright side, she had been summoned by her superiors.

Wait... that wasn't a good thing.

'I wonder what the situation is,' Mikan thought anxiously as she seated herself on a chair outside of the office she was told to stop by. With her hand feeling the burden of carrying a heavy suitcase to the fourth floor, Mikan opted to place it on the vacant chair next to her. She then proceeded to mover herself to a position that was comfortable for her before zoning off for the next few minutes.

"What's taking them so long? I'd have thought this was something urgent if they summoned me without letting me rest up," Mikan bitterly muttered with more than a tinge of annoyance present in her voice.

But instead of doing what she'd normally do and locate any members that were expected to be in the meeting, Mikan stayed put. She reckoned that she'd not only waste time wandering around the building aimlessly but she'd also tire herself out more in the process. It sure would have been hard to encounter any of her peers in such a busy environment.

It would have been better if they came to her for once.

'A few more minutes of waiting won't hurt,' she tried to reason, even though she felt uneasy about her current circumstance.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Mikan had discarded any sort of optimism that she had struggled to maintain previously.

She was hungry.

She was agitated.

Mikan would surely punish someone relentless in her current state if this was all just misinformation.

Whilst she let her anger consume her, Mikan failed to notice the crimson light of her receiver desperately call out for her attention until the flicker had caught her eye in the transparent window.

Pursing her lips tightly together, Mikan pressed the button of her receiver down before seething out a "what?" to the target of her anger.

"I've tested your patience again, I see," an amused voice bellowed out through the other line. Although Mikan's anger continued to rise by his lack of remorse, she wasn't about to let a few petulant remarks loose.

She'd lose her mind and quite possibly her job if she was careless when speaking to her superior.

He cleared his throat.

Finally, it was time for business.

"I'm sorry for making you wait eighteen minutes. A sudden situation has cropped up and it seems that I am needed elsewhere for the next few weeks, so I've cancelled both meetings. I forgot to inform you, sorry again. But It's good things have turned out this way because I needed to summon you urgently for an entirely different matter," he paused before continuing, unsure of how the brunette would react to what was said next.

"It's complex," he said simply.

She outwardly groaned.

Anything but that.

"Luminous Revival keep a record of the power consumption that is used by Alice users, or what we call 'Synthesizers', all throughout the country. Our data has picked up on something quite disturbing. On the 13th August at 13:13PM a large source of power was detected at Alice Academy, and we're definite that it was caused by outsiders. We have our suspicions on what, or rather who, it's all caused by. The issue is that we need someone to investigate it. Normally we'd hand this over to the government so they can do as they please. However, we've kept quiet about this matter, and Luminous Revival doesn't intend to let anyone know of our findings," he said lowering his voice.

Mikan perked an eyebrow up upon hearing this. The information that was just leaked to her was practically a violation of the law! They, by any means, weren't allowed to keep secrets from the very government that had established Luminous Revival.

What was the commander thinking?

She knew it was a big risk, but she also knew her commander wasn't reckless. He obviously had a good reason for doing this.

"I can't explain the reasoning behind our actions just yet but I'll let you know that this ties into your next mission. You'll just have to wait for your file to arrive in 12 hours for further details. I guess that's all," he said.

"I understand," Mikan said and disconnected the call sensing that the conversation had ended.

"I still have so many questions that need answering but I'll wait for tomorrow. I guess I don't need to wait any longer for myHawalon," Mikan said happily before heading out to buy the snack she craved.

* * *

Aside from her role as the 'Protector of Order, in Luminous Revival which was also commonly referred to as 'headquarters' by the many that worked there, Mikan Sakura was a normal fifteen-year-old.

Stuffing her mouth with large quantities of food in one sitting, binge-watching TV serials, reading novels, cooking; these were all regular activities done by regular people and Mikan was no exception to this.

Normally when she was exempt from her duties, Mikan usually did one of the things that were listed above.

However, during the idle hours of 8PM, none of these options seemed particularly appealing to the teen. Instead of doing something productive, Mikan forcefully replayed her earlier conversation with the commander over and over again, trying to piece together the fragments of information she had just received.

There were so many scenarios that played in her mind but of course only one of them had to be correct.

"I'll leave it for tomorrow," Mikan decided, after all, that was when her mission officially started.

But somehow fifteen minutes later, curiosity got the best of Mikan. She wanted, no, rather needed to know more information. Her brain craved details and until Mikan retrieved the information she desired, she knew there was no way she'd be able to sleep that night.

If it was any other mission, Mikan would have let her questions take a back seat, but this wasn't just any odd mission. The thing that separated the ordinary mission from this one was the fact that she was given exclusive information prior to the task.

That never happened.

Immediately, Mikan left her bed and looked across the room to find her laptop lying around collecting dust. It surely had been a while since she last used the neglected device. The poor thing was rarely ever used so it was a shock to find out that it still had a bit of life thriving in it.

"Doing a bit of research is a good thing. I'll understand the mission a little better," she said, attempting to assure herself.

After accessing the web, Mikan searched up 'Alice Academy' in the search bar since it was the first keyword that came to mind. After all, it was the place where the power source was detected. Her eyebrows furrowed together when only seven results were shown on her screen. To her distaste, they were all articles. Opinion articles from investors regarding their annually held festival. Nothing more, nothing less.

No contact details, no pictures, no official website, no scandals, no headlines... absolutely nothing!

She narrowed her eyes at the screen.

Secretive, too secretive.

It was definitely suspicious.

"Whatever, I guess I actually have to wait for my file,"

Feeling as though there was nothing more she could possibly do in terms of research, Mikan shut her laptop down and gently pulled her screen down. Soon after that, the familiar feeling of fatigue started to take over her body.

Mikan decided that it was time to prepare for bed.

She proceeded with her sacred nighttime routine, after all was completed, Mikan plopped herself at the corner of her bed. She extended her hand forward to the first drawer of her bedside table and sought out one of the clear containers she kept safe.

Mikan checked the title that was printed on the clear tube and once she was certain it was the one she needed, Mikan took one of its contents out.

She swiftly popped the circular shaped white pill into her mouth, grabbed her water bottle, unscrewed its lid and dunked half of its contents into her mouth. After she had finished, Mikan glanced at her alarm clock from the corner of her eyes.

It was time to sleep.

She crawled into bed.

There was nothing more she could do for the day other than wait for the pill to take its effect. During the next thirty-five minutes that she was awake, Mikan's mind travelled to the endless labyrinth of memories she had unconsciously reserved for her 'late night thoughts' as she liked to call them. Her mind shifted from good memories to bad memories and everything else in between.

But most importantly, there was that one memory, the one she was unable to get rid of. It was impossible to somehow drown it out of her mind or maliciously murder it so Mikan would be at peace.

It looked like it was that exact memory that had decided to greet her tonight.

She inwardly gasped.

"Stay calm. Don't think about it," Mikan said in a strained voice.

When were her sleeping pills going to take effect?

She desperately needed them to do their magic.

Doing whatever she could to force slumber, Mikan resorted to counting sheep, lulling herself to sleep, thinking about funny moments; however, none seemed to aid her with her objective.

'Sleep, sleep, sleep,' she chanted inwardly hoping that her mantra would comply to her commands. But of course, that wasn't going to happen.

Not tonight anyway.

At that moment, an imaginary light bulb vigorously flashed above her head.

"The tape!" she almost yelled out as she willingly left the warmth of her bed to find the said item.

Mikan didn't really keep many materialistic items in her apartment. The primary reason for this was her fear of being robbed whilst she was away on her missions so instead, she chose to place duplicates of her essential items some of which included medicine, clothes, and toiletries.

Simple items as such had no real value, so it lightly relieved Mikan from her constant paranoia.

Sticking her hand under her bed, Mikan felt around until her fingers reached some material that was protected by a cardboard box. She carefully dragged the box forward by its edge and removed the article of material to reveal a cassette tape player and three tapes. All of them had two initials inked on to their white sticky label.

One read 'SS', another read 'HS', and the last 'OS'.

Mikan selected the tape with the initials 'SS', pulled out the cassette tape recorder, set the cover over the box yet again, and pushed it back.

"The things I do to get to sleep" she muttered rather distressed.

Plonking herself back to bed, Mikan pressed down on a button that caused a sequence of melodies to begin. As the minutes passed, Mikan solely concentrated on the sounds emitted from the cassette tape. It allowed her to loosen up her previously tense body, breathe at a normal pace, and, enabled her eyes to respond accordingly to the need for sleep.

The Sleep Subliminal. It was a marvelous thing indeed. Once Mikan had become accustomed to her missions, she found that it had gradually become harder and harder for her to sleep. The many situations she encountered and the things she had to do impacted her well being significantly. So when unnecessary memories invaded her mind when she attempted to sleep the reality away, Mikan had to find a remedy to the poison she had drowned herself in unconsciously.

Going to the extreme, Mikan utilized the 'Removal of Memories Alice' from headquarters, but her Nullification Alice had consistently rejected its effect to her dismay. Seeing Mikan's performance and health deteriorate because of the distress she faced, her commander sought to rid her of her struggle.

He called in for the best Alice users that could assist Mikan. And after many futile trials in the span of three months, one day when returning from a mission, a cassette tape player and a singular tape was delivered to her in the form of a boxed package.

Mikan had no idea as to what had been delivered to her. She was completely unaware of the extreme lengths that were taken by her commander in order to help her reach a point of successful recovery. But once she used the tape out and realised she had slept blissfully for the first time in five months, Mikan found that it was necessary to show her appreciation and she did so by transferring her recent mission reward to her commander.

Cash rewards weren't all too extraordinary considering her commander was one with a higher salary, so instead of giving him what he didn't need, Mikan had retrieved an everlasting 'open me up' flower that acquired the good memories of the user, and displayed them through a montage.

It was a very sentimental gift, but for some reason, the following day the gift was returned to her with a note.

'Although I appreciate your benevolence, I believe that this would rest better in your hands. - EA

Mikan rolled over to her side, smiling at the thought of that day, but as Mikan's mind-numbed down from the tape taking its toll on her, one final unintentional thought glided into her mind.

The mission.

The unauthorised information.

 _'Alice Academy'_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope the first installment of 'Surreptitious' was of a satisfactory standard to anyone reading. I'd just like to comment on a few things. 1) Because I write in Standard English (well I hope I have) many of the words I've used will have different variations in regards to spelling. One example seen in the segment is the word 'colour' which is commonly used in the UK. So to clarify, I'm not spelling these sorts of words wrong. 2) I have probably bombarded you with extra information, and I must have gone off topic at some point, but I assure you, everything I've written down is necessary to know! 3) This story will probably use a lot of analepses (flashback) 4) If you've got any questions, feel free to PM me.

 **10/04/2018:** It's been a while since I've written this, so I'd just like to tell anyone reading this that the updates will probably be slow up until the 15th June 2018. I really need to focus on my upcoming exams, but I really wanted to post this, and I simply couldn't wait. Yes, I know it's a stupid move, but I've been waiting to post this for a long time.

 **31/10/2018:** Edited. After reading this chapter again, I understand where **Rei** was coming from. The use of unnecessary words really made my writing feel stiff. It didn't flow at all. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Hopefully, I won't have to edit this again, but you never know. :)

Till Next Time :)


	2. Chapter 2

**~Surreptitious~**

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 **Chapter Two**

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Word Count: 4993

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After shamelessly slurping up the last few sips of coffee from her cup, the ebony-haired receptionist skillfully tossed it away with a flick of her wrist. It successfully landed into an empty bin that was positioned a fair distance away from her.

Internally, she celebrated her minor victory and immediately decided that another coffee would certainly grace her desk at some point of the day.

A fitting reward.

The woman proceeded to enter the Luminous Revival staff room. It was unsurprisingly empty because it was currently 6:30 AM. Most members of the organization would have still been enjoying some shut-eye, after all, Luminous Revival wasn't a 9-5 job. It was pretty flexible. But since she was a receptionist, Satsuki didn't enjoy the same sort of leisure as her peers.

The woman sighed before placing most of her belongings in her designated locked. She carelessly hurled her purple coat to the nearest coat stand before exiting the room to go to her workplace.

As she grew closer and closer to her desk, the receptionist had noticed another figure that was spinning around aimlessly on her swivel chair. He had his head tilted back and his legs were placed on the clean surface of her table.

Satsuki twitched her eyes in annoyance and hastened her pace to see exactly who was stupid enough to be at Luminous Revival ridiculously early and smother her desk in their disgusting rubbish.

"Hisoka!" she growled, finally identifying the man.

The said individual lifted up his elbows upon hearing his name and was instantly met with a stack of heavy files violently crushing his face.

"Get off my desk!"

"Alright, alright... give me a second Satsuki," he muttered under his breath before moving out of the way so Satsuki could set up her workplace. Completely ignoring Hisoka's presence, Satuki began to boot up her computer system, log into her account and open up her professional email account. Unsurprisingly, her inbox displayed a series of unread messages.

She sighed.

Hisoka peered over her shoulder.

"Looks like you've got a lot of your plate, Satsuki," he commented.

She glared at him.

"I'm sure I can handle it," she said.

"I guess," he said with a small smile before walking off.

Although Satsuki wanted to question his sudden appearance, she opted to place her curiosity to the side and continue with her work. She did have a lot to do after all, and she had not a single second to waste. And with that thought in mind, Satsuki dove straight into her inbox. She opened up important emails, responded to inquiries, deleted annoying spam and delivered daily reminders to the members of Luminous Revival regarding the collection of their files.

The tasks she tended to consume at least a good twenty minutes of her time and it was only when she heard the familiar sounds of whistling echo throughout Luminous Revival did she snap out of 'work mode' to check the time.

6:50 AM

It wasn't that long until the members would start pouring into reception to collect their tasks.

Satsuki glanced at the pile of folders before picking the one at the top. She was curious to see who was picking up their file at such an early time.

"Mizu Baundo Tenshi," she read out and traced the outline of the name.

"She's back?" Hisoka asked, coming back to the desk.

Satsuki had almost physically jolted upon hearing his loud voice unexpectedly.

"It looks like it... but didn't she just come back from a mission yesterday? I mean I saw her when she checked in. She looked really tired,"

"She's a busy girl, I guess,"

"Hm," she replied in agreement.

"I think it's a little bit unfair that she has to go out again so soon. I almost feel sorry for her,"

"I guess it comes with her title. She is 'Protector of Order'. It's only natural that she has to tolerate that kind of stuff so there's no point of feeling all down about it. She's probably used to it by now," he simply stated, no sympathy offered whatsoever.

"That's a bit harsh, Hisoka,"

"Well, it's what she chose to do. It's her reality... not mine,"

"It sounds like someone is hostile towards Tenshi," she giggled.

"It's nothing like that Satsuki, don't misunderstand me."

"Whatever. Anyway, It's pretty rare to have a visit from you. What are you doing at headquarters? You only come here a few times a month."

He averted his gaze.

"I just came to deliver the files that you attempted to murder me with! Apparently, the person who normally handles this is out with a cold, so the commander ordered me to do it instead."

"That must've been problematic. Is that all you're here for?" she asked. There was no way someone of his rank would have been obliged to do something so simple. Anyone could have delivered the files today. There must have been something more to it than that.

"No, not really. I'm just on standby for now. There's nothing assigned to me at the moment so I'll be heading out. By any chance do you want anything whilst I'm away?"

"Coffee," she said, not missing a heartbeat.

He snickered.

"Sure. I'll be back in an hour, I hope you can wait."

* * *

 **Missed call: this person/number called at 7:00 on 10th October**

* * *

 ** _I'm sorry, I couldn't complete the task -_ Hisoka **

* * *

Dazzling golden rays sneakily seeped into the slumbering brunette's room through the tiny opening that was made available from Mikan's well-guarded thick curtain. Travelling past her belongings, the rays extended out further and further into Mikan's room until they could no longer outstretch anymore. Fortunately enough, the bright beams of light landed onto a quarter of Mikan's face.

Noticing the arrival of the sun, Mikan's face contorted in discomfort as she pulled her duvet covers over her face to safeguard herself from the blinding light.

But it was at that exact moment that Mikan realised it was morning. The sudden awareness led to Mikan jolting upright.

Her head snapped to her right to locate the time shown on her digital clock. Mikan internally prayed that she wasn't late or if she was, she hoped it wasn't too bad a time.

7:09 AM

"Argh," she growled out.

How could she have even slept through her alarm again?

"Oh well, better late than never."

* * *

Signing into Luminous Revival was as time-consuming as the last time she came in but Mikan had no time to think about how annoying their system was since she was already 49 minutes late.

Damn it all.

"Mizu Baundo Tenshi here!" she yelled, approaching the reception desk. Mikan heavily panted before aggressively pulling off her lanyard to hand over to Satsuki, who scanned it for her.

"Mikan Sakura, Mizu Baundo Tenshi..." Satsuki said as she opened up her drawer to locate Mikan's file in the midst of a dozen others.

"You're quite lucky that no-one took the opportunity to snag your mission since your file was supposed to have been collected at 7 AM. You're fifty minutes late. It's a wonder that it's still here. You know the rules Tenshi. You can't afford to be late, especially considering your rank," Satsuki scolded lightly evoking a pout from Mikan. She jokingly glared at the brunette before handing her the file.

"Keep it safe. It's not like your other files," she warned.

Mikan blinked.

"What do you mean? How would you know? Wait! You didn't try to look-"

"No," she said cutting the girl off, offended at the assumption. "I didn't take a look but I did receive an email from the commander. He just told me to relay this information to you," Satsuki explained.

"Okay... anything else?"

"They expect you set off at 8:30 AM. It's now..." she took a look at the corner of her computer, "8:03 AM so you've got a few minutes here and there to spare. I'd suggest you take this time to stock up on items if you haven't already," she advised.

"Hm, that's not too bad. I don't think I'll need to stock up but thank you Satsuki," Mikan said before retrieving her lanyard from Satsuki.

"Good luck on your mission," the receptionist said, smiling ever-so-slightly.

"Thanks, Satsuki!"

"No problem. I'll make all of the necessary calls to make sure everything is in place by the time you arrive at the pickup point. Just please... for the love of everything alive, make sure you're there on time!"

Mikan laughed before back away slowly.

"Will do. No need to worry! All I'm going to do is see a few people before I leave, it won't take that long,"

"Okay then take care, Mikan."

* * *

Everyone knew who Mikan's favourite member of Luminous Revival was. The way she carried herself around him in contrast to others in headquarters was obvious. She was familiar with him and the idea of being comfortable with someone in an organization like theirs was something to be wary of since getting too snug with a member could have resulted in manipulation.

So that's why boundaries had to be maintained.

But of course, Mikan didn't know that when she was younger.

Especially at the tender age of six when she had barged into a very unfamiliar room, interrupting an important presentation at Luminous Revival. Many had directed expressions of annoyance at her arrival. However, all their negative emotions had seethed down when Mikan had practically jumped one of their elderly but prominent members to the surprise of everyone.

There was a silence that lingered around n the air.

No one could believe their eyes.

How would the man react?

The attention was suddenly diverted from the meeting, which now fell on deaf ears and most were interested in the little girl and their superior.

"Jii-chan!" she exclaimed, "I finally found you!"

Instead of pushing the child off, as many expected, the man gave a slightly stern expression to Mikan as if he was telepathically telling her that she'd be in big trouble later but nonetheless, he hugged Mikan back with sincerity. He guessed that leaving his granddaughter alone in the care of headquarter's child section was a bad idea on his part. After all, he knew how she couldn't stay in one place by herself for too long.

And when she was bored, she'd aimlessly wander around... or even worse, unintentionally cause trouble.

Wait... where were the people that were supposed to be keeping an eye on her anyway?

In that minute, the sounds of panting, cursing, and gulping were heard as a few members of the specialised security had arrived onto the scene. Some surely wanted to point accusing fingers at the child seated in Nono's lap. She may have been an angel in appearance but she was certainly a little devil. Every time they came close to finding her, she'd vanish into thin air.

"Are you sure she's not a Synthesizer?"

"Yeah... the Protector of Order told us she isn't one but she's a nightmare to deal with," another commented.

There was no way they could blame that child for anything even if they wanted to unless they wanted to be humiliated for not doing their job properly.

'Troublesome child'

Once Mikas had come to understand the situation she was in, she looked at her grandfather with a look of utter guilt. She didn't realise that her actions would lead to an interruption of a meeting and a cat and mouse chase. She immediately removed herself from the embrace of her grandfather and looked around to see many people looking at the girl curiously.

'What is she doing?' Nono thought, confused, just like the many around him.

Once clearing her throat, Mikan bowed down to her speculators as a sign of respect.

"I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused."

Deciding to not wait for any approval from the members, Mikan walked over to the people who, she assumed, were there to take her back to the child section. She looked at the man, who she figured was the head of the unit and gave out a big smile as if to assure him that she wouldn't pull a stunt like that again. Acknowledging the surrender of Mikan, the man extended his hand forward to Mikan which she gladly took.

Most of those who were from the security unit had flooded out of the room once it was crystal clear that the child in their care wouldn't try to cause more trouble. But the man who has a hold on Mikan waited until the rest had left. He sensed that Nono wanted a word with him.

Nono stood up and dismissed himself from the formal meeting on the pretext of needing to settle a few matters down.

Pulling his granddaughter and the man aside to an empty room, Nono closed the door.

"I see she's caused some trouble for your team," Nono commented. "She's already apologised so I take it that this matter can pass. Anyways, seeing as though my granddaughter will be a frequent visitor here, I'm going to need someone to take care of her when I'm away and organise a few things for her. Her food, activities and so on," Nono said counting them all off on his fingers.

The man nodded, understanding what was being asked of him.

"Now Mikan..." Nono said turning his attention to the now quiet girl. "As I told you before, you're going to be coming here a lot so I hope you don't cause any more trouble. I really need you to settle down."

"Hai hai!"

"I know this is your very first time here, but you really shouldn't be wandering around unsupervised. I'll try to check up on you as much as I can, but I need you to cooperate with everyone here, okay? Now I'll come back later. For now, this lovely man here -Drayden- will take you back. Be a good girl," Nono said, resting his hand on her head. He then gave out a small smile before turning to exit.

"Make sure you come back soon Jii-chan!"

From that moment on, Mikan's world really did change.

For the next few months, Mikan continued to come into Luminous Revival with her Jii-chan. He made sure he dropped her off to the child section of headquarters before resuming with his duties.

It was all going well.

Mikan interacted with the other children, livened up the atmosphere and caused an unintentional ruckus everywhere she went. It was definitely a change from her previous routine but Mikan learnt to enjoy it.

That was until it all changed.

"What's the matter Drayden? Is my little Mikan causing you too much grief? Is that why you've placed her in the care of another guard?" Nono started, genuinely curious. Drayden had accompanied Mikan for approximately four months. They had seemed to be getting along with each other as well, so it had come as a shock to Nono when Drayden had abruptly given Mikan over to another.

To top it off, Drayden was extremely persistent about being listened to when it came to this matter.

"It's only temporary. The person who's looking after her owes me a favour and I needed some time away from your granddaughter to figure a few things out," Drayden explained.

"Like what?"

"I think there's something you need to know. I actually found out about this a month ago and I just don't think I could hide it from you anymore."

"What is it?"

"Mikan... she's a Synthesizer."

For a while, Nono stared Drayden out. He was looking for any sign that the man was lying to him. A muffled laugh, a change in expression... anything. He'd rather be a fool pranked by someone younger than him but Nono just didn't want Mikan to be a Synthesizer. When it became obvious that Drayden was serious, he began to think.

Why had it taken her so long to show symptoms of being a Synthesizer?

How did she pass the test if she's a Synthesizer?

"Mikan... what type of Synthesizer is she?"

"That's the thing... I can't tell."

"Are you saying that you won't tell me what her type is or that you don't know her type?"

"I don't know."

"Talk to me about this later. I've got a meeting to attend so I need to go now but thank you for telling me this. If she's still going to be in your care, you'll need a monitoring device. There'll be one available if you ask someone from the technology department or go into one of their stores. I'll cover the costs... just make sure she stays out of trouble."

"Okay."

That was where Mikan's journey began but it was also where Nono's regret had started.

At the age of seven, Nono started to see less and less of his non-biological granddaughter and it wasn't just attributed to his busy schedule but also the girl's sudden interest with Luminous Revival not as a place to play and learn but as a place to strengthen herself for missions.

At first, he had greatly opposed Mikan's wish to 'help society'. He tried to convince himself that she was too young, too innocent and not at all a Synthesizer but after a year and a half of mild training, he could no longer deny her the right.

After all, he had unexpectedly witnessed her powers in action first hand on _that fatal night._

He still couldn't shake off the image of Mikan...

It was horrifying.

Besides, even if Nono wanted to deny her the right to participate in Luminous Revival, he simply couldn't.

She was a Synthesizer by right and many of his peers (Mikan's superiors) had been present on the day of the unfortunate incident so he couldn't hide her identity as a Synthesizer even if he tried to.

If only Mikan wasn't there at the wrong time.

She could have been saved from this fate... but she seemed to enjoy it.

"Jii-chan!"

Nono snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Mikan calling his name from a distance.

"Mikan," he acknowledged.

"Jii-chan I can't stay here for too long but I really needed to see you before I head out again. Are you okay? Is your health good? You haven't bee missing meals have you? Is there anything you want me to get you before I leave?"

Nono released a hearty laugh at his granddaughter's concerns.

"I'm okay, completely fine. I've been worried about you though. I didn't think it was possible for a one-week long mission to extend to a one-month long mission. I'm more worried about your health than I am mine."

"It was troublesome for sure to have my mission increased in days, but I've been able to manage it all. My health's all good, don't worry."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah, I know."

"I was told you were heading out today so I've prepared a bento for when you're hungry," he said as he handed her the bento box over.

"Ah, it's been so long since I've had homemade food made by you Jii-chan. My mouth is already watering," Mikan said with a giggle.

"Also... here's an early birthday gift," he muttered, passing over a small red velvet box.

"But... Jii-chan... It's October! My birthday isn't till next year."

"That's why it's an early birthday present," he reminded her "But... I've noticed your missions are starting to consume a lot of time so I'm not sure if you'll be home for your birthday so I wanted to give you something earlier," he explained.

"Jii-chan... don't worry. I'll definitely be back before January."

"I'm not too sure about that, Mikan."

"I promise!"

"Don't promise me something that you won't be able to keep."

Mikan pouted.

"Jii-chan have a little bit of faith in me! Anyway, can I open it now?"

"Hm. Mikan while we're on the topic of promises, you need to promise me that you won't open your present until a day after your birthday?"

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Mikan sighed.

"Okay. I'll open it on 2 January. 12:00 AM on the dot, I promise!"

Nono smiled, a rather bittersweet smile, as he watched his granddaughter try to figure out the contents of the box.

"Oh. I haven't got that long left until I leave." Mikan noted.

"Aren't you going to go see Mrs. Imai before you set off?"

"Is she still here?"

"She's on the third floor. See her before you go Mikan or else I'll have to endure her endless complaints."

"Okay. I'll go, I need to talk to her about a few things and I need some things that are necessary for the mission anyway. Bye Jii-chan, I'll finish my assignment and come back soon." Mikan said confidently. She bowed before turning and rushing off to find Mrs. Imai.

 _If only you knew..._

* * *

The final person Mikan had to greet before leaving was a very significant woman, her idol. Everyone in Luminous Revival was aware of the bond they shared with each other. After all, she was the only person who had assisted Mikan when she had started out as a newbie in headquarters when her grandfather had other responsibilities to tend to and was unable to help her.

The raven-haired lady openly guided Mikan to success when she was at the bottom of the hierarchy, showing her all the options she could explore within Luminous Revival before she could permanently select one. Within her tutoring days, the amethyst eyed mentor also made sure to engrave good manners, sympathy and other essential and desirable characteristics a person required. The lady's main concern when raising Mikan was that she'd eventually lose the ability to feel as many of her peers reached the greatest level of being void of emotion when encountering certain unforgettable situations.

The other fear was that Mikan would sculpt herself to be someone who'd disregard friendship, because of how their system worked. Friendships were dangerous in organizations, whether good or bad because it made room for vulnerability and deceit. So this would have led to people solely focussing on their occupation in a robotic way as if it was implanted into them. But luckily, Mikan wasn't one to give up her radiant personality.

"Mrs. Imai, I need your help again!" Mikan yelled out from the other side of the room catching the eye of the said person. With Mrs. Imai secure in her place, Mikan approached the woman with a grin smothered to her face. She raised her beige file in the air, shaking it slightly, so Mrs. Imai would understand her reasoning for calling her out.

Mrs. Imai only gave a smile as she saw she was being approached by Mikan, who she hadn't seen in over a month. With the intentions of engulfing Mrs. Imai in a hug, the bubbly brunette reached out both of her arms only to be stopped by both of her role model's hands.

"I know you've been away from Luminous Revival for one month, but Mikan Sakura... what have I told you about shouting in here?" Mikan paused for a moment with a look of utter confusion, but as soon as she understood she had violated one of Mrs. Imai's key rules, she opened and closed her mouth unable to give an answer. Ultimately, Mikan decided that giving her mentor a sheepish smile accompanied by a little laugh would have settled it for her.

Mrs. Imai sighed.

What was she so worried about in her earlier years? Mikan was obviously never going to change.

"Mikan," she started remembering the file Mikan waved around earlier "You're heading out so soon? You've only gotten back from your last mission yesterday."

"I didn't ask for the mission if that's what you're thinking about. I only found out when the commander summoned me once I literally stepped foot in Japan. It's pretty urgent, but as you know I can't reveal too much" Mikan said with a little laugh.

"I guessed that much, but you've only recently recovered from your past injuries."

"It's nothing, I promise you. You don't need to worry about me."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Mikan... overdo it, and you know that-"

"I know, I know," Mikan said avoiding her gaze "I know what you mean, but I think you already understand why I'm doing this. My role as Protector of Order is absolutely precious to me since _that_ time. It made me realise many things, and if it wasn't for _that_ incident, my present wouldn't be like this at all. I owe it to _that_ person to fulfill my duties, and you know I won't stop until I feel like I've rectified my mistakes."

"I also understand what you're saying, but I'll still tell you this, again and again, it wasn't your fault Mikan, so stop blaming yourself. You should have realised this by now, it was Z, not you."

"I... I can't bring myself to believe that." Mikan said in a low voice. Upon hearing this, Mrs. Imai brought her hand forward and rested it on Mikan's shoulder. She guessed it was wrong for her to mention such a sensitive topic on Mikan's return, but it was well required. Mikan had to understand, the past needed to remain in the past.

"I'm sorry. I came here to prepare for my next mission, but instead, I've dulled the atmosphere."

"It's okay. Forget about it for now Mikan. Anyways, what did you need?" Mrs. Imai said disregarding their previous conversation temporarily. Pulling herself together, Mrs. Imai graced a smile back onto her face in hopes to bring back Mikan's cheerful nature.

"I'm not sure."

"Okay. Okay. Let's just sit down for a moment, so you can tell me about the place you're going to. I'll figure it out through your description, and get you what you need according to what you tell me."

Mikan nodded.

"Well, I don't think I'll need a uniform. According to the file, most of the things I need will be provided by them. But the file mentions that I need to bring a few of my own casual clothes, pyjamas, and I need a device that will disguise some of my equipment. Aside from that, I already have everything else on the list with me in my suitcase."

Mrs. Imai stood up.

"I'll be right back, I remember the commander telling me about the recent dispatch. Just sit down on the chair and relax, I heard your mission is going to be very lengthy so rest up as much as you can now."

With that, Mrs. Imai wondered off to another area leaving Mikan to ponder in thought.

'Was it really okay for me to have made everything tense already?'

'Obviously not you baka. Think about it, you've been gone for a month, how do you think everyone around you felt? They obviously missed you. I'm sure you need to consider your inconsistent physical state, they're bound to be concerned even if you tell them you're okay.' Mikan's conscious argued.

'Maybe you're right. That was wrong of me, but what do I do to rectify the situation?'

'Lighten things up, be yourself.'

"Mikan, do you think these will be enough for you?" Mrs. Imai asked approaching her with two filled up medium-sized mailing bags and a small black box.

Mikan stood up.

"Yeah, of course, that looks like more than enough," she said and reached out to retrieve the packages.

Maybe Mikan wasn't paying much attention at that moment in time, because her clumsy self somehow managed to have found a way to let all three packages slide out of her grasp. Fortunately for her, the bags must have contained soft items or materials or else she would have been able to hear some damage.

Mikan crouched down before she began to pick up the bags. They weren't heavy by any means so it was a wonder that she managed to drop them.

"Where's the box?" she mumbled under her breath looking back, forth and sideways to find it. She found the lid, but the box itself seemed to have vanished.

"Mikan." Mrs. Imai said in a rather amused voice.

"Yes?" she asked curiously, wondering why Mrs. Imai's tone shifted.

She held up the small black box and signalled for her to stand up. Her face lit up seeing that it was all in one piece. Mikan took the box from Mrs. Imai, sustaining her smile, that was until she saw what was in the box.

She blinked once.

She blinked twice.

She blinked three times.

"Eh?"

She looked at the books scattered in the box bewildered.

Looking closer and closer at the titles of the books, Mikan finally understood why Mrs. Imai was trying to hide her laugh. Immediately she covered them up by putting the matching black lid over them.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone." Mrs. Imai said with a laugh.

Mikan hung her head low.

The embarrassment was strangely overpowering.

"Mikan, Mikan there's no need for you to be uncomfortable about these things."

"B-but-"

"Don't worry, I'll forget I even saw them. Now, Mikan, you don't have much time left. You should start to head to your stand."

"Oh... okay."

She began to turn to exit the floor, but Mikan halted.

"Is something wrong Mikan? Are you okay?"

Mikan smiled and looked directly into Mrs. Imai's eyes "I like my job. I know you don't approve of me using my powers so often, but I'm telling you, I know what I'm doing and I've already confirmed my form with the medics. I still have a long life ahead of me. No need to worry, Mrs. Imai."

"I'll believe you. The results did say that, but you know how I can get. Your health is of top priority, remember that even when you're doing your assignments. I'll wish you the best of luck. Come back home soon."

"I will."

* * *

 **Responding to your reviews (Chapter One):**

 **Linnado Mikado** : Thank you for being the first reviewer of this story! It means a lot to me. And also, thank you for the constructive criticism too. If I'm honest, I always knew that I've had a problem with being a bit too lengthy for a long time, but it's been a habit that's stuck to me like glue. So I'm trying my best to work on it, I'm not sure if you can tell much in this chapter... I probably failed in this aim, but I'll work on it, I promise! :)

 **Rei:** Thank you for making me realise a major flaw in my writing. This isn't something I've been aware of but now that you mention it my writing is too stiff with all the unnecessary words. I'll try to make this a target I need to tackle. I don't know how well I'll do with this though hahaha. :)

 **GAwriter** : Thank you for your kind words, it really put a smile on my face! I'm glad I'm receiving positive feedback from all of you! :)

 **Wind of SilentBell** : Don't worry I'll continue to update, but I'm not quite sure how quick I'll be. Thank you for your generous feedback and I hope Surreptitious will continue to appeal to you. :)

 **Mila:** :) Well, I'm also looking forward to posting this chapter, even though, it should have been released a lot earlier. Thank you for the review. I hope this chapter will do for you. :)

I'm also going to take this little section to thank anyone who has followed/favourited this story.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'll mention it again, but even if some details seem unnecessary, they really aren't. It'll all make sense in future chapters, I promise! I also understand that this chapter is probably more on the boring side, but the next chapter will not be like this one at all. It all gets more interesting. As always, if you have any questions or constructive feedback make sure you contact me.

 **07/18:** Just a little side note, I normally post updates of my progress on my profile & some teasers for the next chapter. Feel free to have a look around if you wish :) Also, thank you for giving my work a chance.

 **02/11/18:** Edited.

 **IMPORTANT NOTE: Beta reader needed!**

Till Next Time :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Surreptitious**

* * *

 **~Chapter Three~**

Word Count: 2687

* * *

"I hope you can put all of that commotion behind us. I'm sure you didn't want your first impression of the Academy, that we take such pride in, to be a negative one," he said in a voice that attempted to steer away from sounding generally monotonic and appear slightly invested in Mikan's view of the prestigious Academy; however, it was quite evident that he simply couldn't pull that off.

The man just didn't have time for small talk but here he was awkwardly churning out a half-hearted yet one-sided conversation with the new student. It also didn't help that he was moving in fast-paced long strides towards his office with the tired out brunette sluggishly trailing behind him.

He was sure she wasn't enjoying her time at the moment.

Although the brunette was exhausted due to her four-hour journey from Japan to Tokyo, it was certainly in her best interests to immediately start the mission and that, in her view, had commenced the moment she stepped foot into Academy grounds.

Whilst passing through what seemed to be a never-ending long tunnel of corridors, Mikan kept her eye out for anything that seemed to be out of ordinary. But even with her cautious examination of the interior, Alice Academy looked like a typical educational institution. From the towering pillars that maintained the building to the inconspicuous cracks on the wall, nothing screamed out danger, suspicion or peculiarity to Mikan.

The blonde-haired man suddenly halted in front of what appeared to be a rather different room, that was if she compared it to the rest that had casually passed. As she slowed down to a complete stop, Mikan's eyes instantly caught the reflective silver door sign that was situated on the left side of the door.

'High School Principal's Office.' it read in bold black letters.

"As I said before," he started "I hope you can put this behind us. I'm sure that everything beyond this moment will run smoothly for you," he said before extending his arm out to reach the door. He momentarily glanced back at Mikan before gesturing for her to enter the office.

Mikan let out a muffled sound behind her closed mouth before striding confidently past the manly figure. To her, this gesture was an indication that she was most certainly not going to put it 'behind her'. The first few scared moments of her mission were to be remembered as irksome.

The brunette didn't expect complications with her registration because her file for the mission had stated that everything had been organised for her. So when the Alice Academy guards had refused to let her tread foot on their precious ground, Mikan made sure she gave them more than just a piece of her mind.

Due to the stubborn nature of the unmoving girl, the Alice guards had decided to end their misery by ringing the administration office to make sure that Mikan's story checked in right. Once it was evident, to the guards, that Mikan wasn't a manipulative liar as first believed, they let her in.

However, that wasn't the end of her troubles.

After the occurrence of the little scene she had caused, Mikan was then brought to the administration office where she had spent an awfully long time confirming details that Luminous Revival had provided to Alice Academy.

On her way to Tokyo, her file had confirmed that a cloned version of herself was sent to the Academy so that Mikan could secure her place for the second term of the academic year.

The whole idea of preparing in advance was supposed to have made Mikan's life a tad bit easier but that clearly didn't work out to her advantage, especially after what came next... the luggage check.

"I'm sorry but you'll have to hand that over to us," the lady apologetically mumbled. She then reached to take out the small red velvet box that was neatly placed in one of the internal compartments of Mikan's suitcase.

Mikan wouldn't have minded if a random item was confiscated, but her eyes widened at the realisation that the item in question was her early birthday present gifted by her Jii-chan. Before the tiny box could reach the hands of the lady, Mikan instantly moved from her idle position to successfully retrieve it.

"I'm so sorry," Mikan yelled "but you can't have that. My Jii-chan gave it to me!" she defensively stated as though it was the only explanation that would save her gift from being stolen from her.

"You might be able to get it back," the lady assured her.

"If it's not a danger to the safety of everyone here... then we'll be able to give it you back soon. The only reason we need to take it away from you is so we can scan it through one of our machines." the lady explained and victoriously pried the item away from Mikan's hands to her distaste.

Before placing it in another room, the lady tried to force the little box open before giving up,

"You see that? It won't open up. I'm sure an advanced Alice placed a time spell on this. I don't know why they did but it's mandatory for us to examine it so that it doesn't violate any safety regulations." the lady explained before dropping it in the 'items for examination' box.

Understanding the logic behind the lady's argument, Mikan nodded and temporarily said her farewells to her present.

'Jii-chan must have done that so I didn't open it up before my birthday.' Mikan thought it with a giggle.

"If it passes the examination, it'll be returned to you sometime this week."

"Okay, no problem."

There was no way that a present of Jii-chan's was going to be identified as dangerous, so Mikan knew she'd see it soon. All she had to do was wait.

Mikan grimaced a little upon recalling all of the troublesome events that had happened only a few hours into her mission. It was only 1:50 PM and she had encountered enough to make her severely fatigued and aggravated for the day.

She eagerly slumped into one of the vacant seats the man had offered to her and contently sighed. This was just what she needed after all of that mess, just a few minutes of peace and quiet.

It was nice whilst it had lasted but Mikan quickly switched from being carefree to slightly observant again.

Giving a glance at the blonde-haired man who had directed her to the office, Mikan began to scrutinise the individual. Now that she had a proper look at him whilst he was stationary, Mikan quickly came to the conclusion that everything about him yelled out scary and intimidating.

She was most surprised that his stormy cerulean orbs hadn't already drowned out the computer screen he was heavily fixated on and that his keyboard remained intact after the constant attacks it received from his slender fingers.

Yes... that was how terrifying he looked.

Maybe it was a persona he was forced to keep up with, after all, he was the great High School Principal, Kazumi Yukihara. She had noticed his name was printed onto his blue-coloured suit hence the realisation that she was currently sat a fair distance away from one of the most important people in the Academy.

Crazy.

She didn't think she'd bump into someone like him so early into her mission. In fact, she was hoping she didn't.

The last thing she needed was the attention of a superior. If all became hazy during her mission, what would she do if caught?

That didn't come into her mind until now.

Damn.

'I better start thinking of alternative plans now whilst I still have the time,' she thought, frowning.

"Is everything okay?" the principal asked, pulling her out of her stupor.

"Yes, everything's just fine," she replied in a high-pitched voice flailing her arms around as though to emphasise her certainty.

"That's good. I'm more surprised that you've still got some energy to spare considering that your journey must've been a tiring one," he commented.

He stopped his strenuous typing, momentarily, and looked up to Mikan.

"I hope your journey wasn't too draining,"

Mikan smiled.

'I mean I've had enough time to figure out what I need to do for the mission during my four hours here... so that's great,' she thought to herself amused.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," she said instead.

Content with her answer, he resumed with his work.

It was only when the silence had bored her that Mikan chose to take a look around her. In contrast to Headquarters, the principal's office was surprisingly spacious but it was void of life, energy and most importantly, items. Rather empty she observed.

There was only a jet-black desk that was currently occupied by the man who was in a rather luxurious swivel chair, a few chairs scattered around the desk, a bookshelf that was stacked with at least a dozen books here and there, and the most eye-catching thing was the plain white globe that had little squares adorned to every inch of it. Levitating in mid-air, it spun around slowly to a non-existent rhythm.

It was truly fascinating.

She had to know what it was.

Curiosity had gotten the best of her and before she could have stopped the words pouring out of her mouth, she had ignorantly pointed her index finger to the globe, squinted her eyes ever-so-slightly before asking the one question that was on her mind.

"What is that?" she asked in a barely audible voice.

She expected no reply but it seemed that the principal had sharp ears for he gave her a response straight away.

"It's the monitoring globe. It's a form of CCTV to see what's happening within the Academy," he said, not even looking her way to see what had captivated her sight.

'Why not just install regular CCTV cameras around the campus?' Mikan thought, trying to work around that mentality.

"Just to let you know beforehand, you'll be guided for the rest of the day by the representatives of your class. I've emailed them a few minutes ago so they should be here shortly,"

"Okay,"

Before any other words could be exchanged, a sharp knock on the door was heard along with a voice signalling their arrival.

"It sounds like the class representatives are here," he stated. He paused what he was doing and waited for the figure to emerge from behind the closed doors. Mikan, who was curious to see who it was, fixed her gaze on the large brown doors.

A creek was heard as the individual pushed one of the doors a quarter of the way forward before calmly entering the office. Just from first impressions, Mikan noted that the representative looked rather approachable just by the way he carried himself, not showing any signs of nervousness or any evidence of being too energetic.

His chocolate brown eyes averted from Yukihara for a few seconds and rested on the idle figure of Mikan who was seated comfortably on a seat. He gave the girl a small nod, acknowledging her presence and received a small smile back. It was a simple gesture that both used to telepathically greet each other.

"Did you call for me?"

"Yes, although I thought that Hotaru Imai would be present too,"

"The email was given with not that much notice so Imai-san told me to tell you that she has to prepare for a presentation. I've heard that one of her clients has taken an interest in her latest invention so she has to set up a taster session," he explained.

"That sounds very promising for the technology department,"

The boy nodded his head in agreement.

"Now for what I've called you here for," he looked at Mikan and signalled for her to move away from the comfort of his office furniture and present herself in front of the unfamiliar boy. When she did, he continued speaking.

"I'm sure the email has given you enough information about what is happening at the moment,"

He nodded his head.

"After an extensive analysis, the data shows that her abilities are best suited for that of Class B. Naturally that would mean that the Academy expects the representatives of the said class to help Mikan Sakura settle into the Academy life until other arrangements are made."

"Imai-san and I will do our best to help her," Yuu announced with a look of sheer confidence.

"I'm sure you'll both do a good job."

And with that final declaration, Yuu turned to fully face Mikan.

The look he gave her allowed Mikan to understand that he was silently encouraging her to fire a series of questions his way or perhaps he was just waiting for any type of response from the brunette.

Maybe that was the norm for a transfer student who had no prior knowledge of what to expect but Mikan, on the other hand, had no time for trivial chit-chat as she had practically perpetrated the Academy to complete her objective regarding the power source.

It wasn't like she was going to settle into 'Academy life' anytime soon... or was she?

Unable to think of anything in particular that she desperately wanted to know about the Academy and its procedures, Mikan chose to politely smile at the class representative.

"I'm Mikan Sakura, I hope we can get to know each other well!"

"I'm Yuu Tobita, everyone calls me Inchou, likewise Sakura-san. I hope we'll be good friends," Yuu hummed.

"Now, as I said before, Mikan Sakura will be a member of Class B so she'll be following the standard timetable before further arrangements are made. For now, you should take her to your current class," Yukihara advised and calmly guided both students out of his office but not before leaving Mikan with a smile on her face.

"Welcome to Alice Academy, Mikan Sakura."

* * *

"Right now, we're supposed to have English Literature with Narumi-sensei so it shouldn't be too bad. Knowing him, it'll be a self-study lesson... that is unless he plans on coming back to the classroom," Yuu said guiding Mikan to the classroom.

"Does he normally wander off?" Mikan asked, laughing slightly.

"Yes. Class B have gotten used to it by now. I don't really know what Narumi-sensei gets up to but I'm not sure If I want to know either," Yuu stated and just by observing the look on Yuu's face, Mikan was sure that he had unintentionally created scenarios in his head and was pondering in thought regarding the whereabouts of the said teacher.

"He sounds interesting," Mikan commented, light-heartedly.

"He is," Yuu said simply.

"Oh and I forgot to ask but how did you end up meeting the Principal Yukihara?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was quite surprised when I received the email from the principal himself! That's never happened before. Students at the Academy only get to see him during annual events so we feel, or at least I feel, a little overwhelmed when seeing or even hearing about him. Did you not feel the same way?"

"I mean he seems intimidating more than anything but he was trying to talk to me so he can't be as scary as he seems."

"Hm okay, Sakura-san but how did you meet?"

"I can't really remember," she lied. "I've been feeling pretty tired from my journey here so my mind's a little hazy."

"That's fine... Anyway, if we turn left, we're here!"

* * *

Dear Yukihara,

Area 25 has officially been closed to all. If any further measures need to be taken, please contact us immediately,

Yours Sincerely,

Unit 5

* * *

A knock was heard.

"Come in," Yukihara said casually.

"I've been trying to get a hold of you for quite a while now," a voice commented.

"Seeing that you're here in person... I guess that means it really is a dangerous matter now. We can't turn back now or can we?"

"Unfortunately not," the figure said before closing the door behind them.

"Let's talk about the next steps then."

* * *

 **Responding to your reviews:**

 **Wind of SilentBell : **Hello again! Thank you for your review. I have to agree with you, I also love Mikan and her grandfather's bond. It's quite delightful to see such a beautiful relationship between such characters. And about your question, there really isn't anything specific that makes someone a Synthesizer. They're supposed to be Alices. However, I just thought about how across the world we have different words for the same things so I wanted to apply that to this story. The box... haha knowing Mikan she'll be too caught up in future events to even remember it; however, it'll make its appearance (not too soon though!) And to be honest, the 'incident' that I keep mentioning is *extremely* important to the plot so you'll get references here and there but it'll be a long wait till I actually reveal all the details. Also, I hope your question about Hotaru has been answered. Overall, I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter. Thank you for your continued support! :)

 **Prdee : ***Internal screams intensify* HI! I never thought that one of my favourite GA writers would ever review a story of mine! Thank you! Haha, I hope all the notifications you've received didn't bother you. I had started with Atrocious Acronyms (a story I've been trying to find for some time) and had gotten a little carried away. About your review, it's safe to say that Mikan will, in fact, enter the Academy as a student (No spoilers here since I thought it was obvious.) Also, thank you for actually addressing the A/N in your review, because I get the impression that no one reads so it's quite assuring to know that this isn't the case. Overall, thank you for your feedback, it's much appreciated!

* * *

 **Author's Note:** To be honest, this chapter was supposed to start differently, but I felt it was unnecessary to include how Mikan arrived at the Academy in heaps of detail as it wouldn't change the plot in the slightest. And just before I sign off, I'd like to know whether summarising each chapter in my A/N's would make life a little easier. If it'll help just let me know before the next chapter is published. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always if you want to track my progress with the story feel free to check out my profile or contact me directly!

I've decided to split my original idea into two chapters so what I was supposed to put in this chapter will be the next chapter. (There's going to be a lot going on!) Finally, just to let you know beforehand, I'm currently editing older chapters. The plot isn't going to change at all but I'm just making sure everything's perfect.

A major sorry for the long overdue update.

Till Next Time :)


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